Tuesday, May 26, 2015

In the aftermath of the Duggar meltdown, all the good-thinking Christians who have less common sense than even non-believers (or my chickens for that matter) are falling over themselves pointing out, in various ways, that any and all of us are capable of being a pedophile or other sexual deviant.

Speak for yourselves, fools, because that is just not true.

Before I go any further, let me repeat and quote myself here, because I am speaking in general terms relating to hard-and-fast reprobates and deviants, not necessarily Josh Duggar: "[...] I am not convinced beyond any doubt
that Josh Duggar himself had reached that point of being a reprobate
pedophile when he did what he did."

Many times it is simply lack of opportunity or fear of consequences that
keep us from falling into grievous sin even though our fallen hearts
would love to indulge the flesh.

By itself, the statement would ring true for many sins and many people. But we are talking pedophilia, molestation, and incest here. No, that is not a desire that even the flesh of an unsaved person wants to indulge in, or what the Bible calls "natural man" (as opposed to spiritual). These sexual deviancies are, as the Bible says, "against nature".

Let me illustrate: every normal man with a pulse has a natural inclination to get satisfaction from looking at women. Eye candy. A godly man will remind himself that to look on a woman to lust after her, even in his heart, is committing adultery in his heart, and will make a point to avert his eyes.

But not one, none, not a single, not even one man that is not a complete reprobate, dirty, incorrigible beast beyond the point of no return would ever have to put forth any effort not to feel lust when looking at a child, a next-of-kin, an animal, or someone of the same gender. Guys lust after women, not children, not Fido, and not their male buddy. Unless they are a sexual pervert, which is NOT a part of everyone's sin nature. That kind of debauchery is a symptom of someone who hates God, does not want to retain God in his/her knowledge, and has been given over to do these acts that go against nature itself.

Even the world knows this. We don't have co-ed prisons so as to not add that level of desire to fornicate. But we don't just put everyone in solitary. Because only complete perverts are tempted by these things.

For Michael Seewald to publicly declare that we are kept from committing these acts through "lack of opportunity or fear of consequences" is as sickening as it is troublesome. Speak for yourself, Mr. Seewald. Most of us were never tempted by so reprobate a sin.

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like:

No mention of being a homo or pedophile. All sins are NOT equal, and some sins only appeal to those with seared consciences.

There were other stupid things in the blog post, but it would take too much of my time to go through them one by one. You lost me at admitting to being tempted by these sins yourself.

This document is enough to make any sane reader throw up in his mouth, become enraged, or both. Don't let the fact that the founder and leader of IBLP has been implicated in sex scandals with 34 women barely old enough to consent trouble you. He is ready to bring us gems such as this document, penned by a mother and her (now supposedly penitent) son who molested his younger siblings.

The molester and his mom go on to dispense such wisdom as that modesty within the home, amongst siblings, is paramount so as to avoid lusting after one another. What the heck??? If that is not disgusting, I don't know what is! I grew up with two older brothers. We took baths together when I was old enough to remember, and none of this ever made me want to touch them, or them me. Because children are children. Sexual thoughts do not cross their minds any more than world politics, unless they have first been polluted by a pervert/TV.

The article goes on to give examples of opportunities that might induce lust, such as changing a diaper (so we are talking a baby), helping a younger sibling with their bath, or the typical streaking that all preschoolers are known for as they have no concept of sexuality, and don't need to have one at that age. Hugs, rough-housing, wrestling, babysitting a younger sibling, even sitting on an older sibling's lap for story time are warned against, becuase they can all lead to: whoops - I just molested my baby sister!

That is great advice when you are living with a pedophile under your roof, true. But normal children are not pedophiles, and should not be treated as such. The way to prevent a child from becoming a predator is by protecting him from being molested by outsiders.

All this mother and son know is that whatever they did that led to him molesting his siblings was a failure. There are a million and one ways to fail. Just because they have figured out one of those ways, does not mean that their advice now is sound. It just might be yet another way to fail in a different manner. Why not get advice from someone who DIDN'T raise a pedophile, and an organization NOT spearheaded by a board of sex offenders??

To hear why these ministires are always full of freaks, weirdos, phoneys, and sex predators, please watch this sermon.

Another argument that is being made by Diary of an Autodidact in his post "How Fundamentalism's Teachings on Sexuality Create Predatory Behavior" is that it is the restrictive teachings on sex that make kids act this way, that if they were allowed access to girls outside their family, they would not be doing this. The argument being that they are not violating kids because they are after kids, but that it is just the only thing available to them. Again, there is an implication of "we are all capable of this when that is our only opportunity," and it's just not true.
Anyone knows that feeding into a lust only makes that appetite stronger. Giving in to fornication does not satisfy the desire for more than 5 minutes, at which point it will come roaring back stronger than ever. By the author's logic, kids in school should be instructed to smoke pot, so as to keep them from getting into heroin and cocaine. Lunacy!

All that is not to say that these organizations don't give kids weird and twisted ideas about sex being bad or dirty or shameful, because they do. But setting a Biblical standard cannot be implicated in kids turning out perverts.

Then there is an army of defensive bloggers focusing on how the victims have been victimized again, such as this one or this one, and that for this reason alone, the skeleton (more like a rotting corpse in this case) should have remained in the closet. And to some extent, that is, sadly, very true. It is awful that the Duggar girls had to have their names and faces publicly attached to this.

Except what about the girls that are yet to be victimized, something that may be prevented by exposing the perpetrator? Maybe if we executed rapists and child molesters when it first comes out, we would not have to make victims relive the horrors of their abuse when we have to air it yet again in an attempt to warn others. Maybe if the parents had resisted the temptation, motivated by pride or greed, to become international celebrities, this would have gone away much more quietly? But again, there is this idea that this could befall anyone, and having a child molester for a son is not unusual enough to abstain from playing the part of a moral, upstanding, Christian family on national TV.

Maybe, just maybe, God was right all along. If we would execute these molesters and pedophiles, they would not have infiltrated society. And maybe if Christians read their Bibles and believed it cover to cover, they would not be playing into the agenda of NAMBLA and others by spouting off the same disgusting nonsense that there is a pedophile lurking in all of us.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. - Hosea 4:6

Monday, May 25, 2015

You
can always know for sure you are being told the truth when you go to
prison for questioning the facts surrounding that "truth." - NOT!

Real truth
need not resort to such thug tactics, as facts are always more firmly
established the more they are investigated and questioned.

Before you start foaming at the mouth and and hating on us, at least take the time to listen to the facts presented in this video.

To my readers in Europe and other enlightened countries, please watch this before it will be blocked by the government, which is sure to happen almost immediately.

Edited to add (for those who comment without even getting the info from the above clip):
Nobody is denying that the Nazis were guilty of war crimes and atrocities against Jews and others. War is hell, as they say, and all parties involved were guilty of crimes against humankind. The particular issue addressed in this clip is the question whether it was the goal of the Nazis to exterminate all Jews, a "holocaust", and how many of them perished.

Even if just one person had died unjustly at the hands of a wicked government, it would still be wrong. Even if the Nazis were "only" guilty of rounding up Jews and others to have them work in forced labor camps to keep the war machinery going, it would still be horrific and wrong. It would be a lot like the US putting Japanese people in concentration camps during WWII. The US camps for Japanese had crematoriums - because people die, especially in squalid conditions with little food, while being worked into the ground.

However, this is not the same as perpetuating the story that traincars full of Jews were shipped to these camps, their fate decided at the fabled "ramps", and that they were mass-murdered by gassing and then being cremated. The official story simply does not add up, which is why it is illegal to even look into the facts in at least 14 countries. There is a difference between killing 6 million people for the sake of exterminating a race, or a fraction of that dying as an indirect result of being abused and mistreated in the course of WWII.

Saturday, May 23, 2015

When the news of Josh Duggar first hit my Facebook newsfeed on Thursday morning, when only InTouch (not exactly reputable) was covering it and there was talk of one victim and few details, I told my husband three things:

- This is not the end of it, and the rest will all hit the fan before the day is up.

- The show will be discontinued.

- People will be asking us for our take on this.

Sadly, all three of my predictions have come true. This blog post is intended to address that third point.

Monday, May 18, 2015

For those who might benefit from it, I wanted to share my system for staying on top of things from week to week (or at least trying my hardest to). This current system has been in use for several years now, though it has evolved during that time as my needs changed.

The basic framework for my to-do list is the same each week. Rather than writing down everything by hand, I made up a blank template, to fill in each week as necessary. Since I typically finish up loose ends and plan the week ahead on Sundays, my schedule runs Monday - Sunday.

Today, I am sharing that basic template. You should be able to download the file to your own computer, and edit it in Microsoft Word to suit your own needs, if you wish. You can find the template here.

This system works very well for me, because errands or meals that didn't get done one week, get transferred to next, and I am reminded of them as I do so. The list is small enough to keep on my counter during the day, and in my purse while out and about.

I know you are curious to take a peek at this list in action, right? Here is this week's list. And yes, the paper was fresh and crisp just yesterday, but has seen much use already in the last 24 hours, and it shows. Which, by the way, is the reason why I use new sheets each week, rather than a notebook or planner - they would never stand up to extended use. Not to mention they are too bulky to double as shopping lists etc.

How's that for a candid peek at my life?? Some comments:

- The meal plan is not yet fully filled in, because I add to it throughout the week as I see what needs to be used or what I feel like making.

- The to-do and shopping lists are looking a little overwhelming already this week, but I often combine a lot of errands into one day, or stop at just one of those stores while already out and about. Or ask my husband to take a store off my hands, like tomorrow when I will ask him to stop at TJ's after he takes the kids to P.E.

- For my shopping list, if an item is sold at multiple stores, I add it to each of those lists, and buy it at whichever one I go to first. Quick shout-out to Costco: our store just started carrying organic beef kielbasa. Oh joy!!! And while we are on the subject, Whole Foods just started selling organic ground pork for $7/lb. Finding organic pork is exciting in and of itself, but that is a very good price to boot.

- On the "things going on this week," I do not list stuff we do weekly, like the kids' P.E. and piano lessons - just extracurricular stuff that I need to be reminded of. I use this in conjunction with Google calendar, where I keep track of every single event for my husband, myself, and the kids.

Saturday, May 16, 2015

Below is a document I found online some time ago with a long list of copycat recipes of popular essential oil blends. I cannot now find the source of this document. To keep it from getting lost, I am sharing it on here.

I have tried several of the blends, and found them to be very much like the originals they aim to copy. I use and buy mostly Eden's Garden essential oils, and make my own blends with them.

Baby Boaz turned the Big One last Wednesday. It is just crazy how time flies! Here are some fun facts about Boaz:

- He only has two teeth - his top two incisors - which he sprouted just a couple of weeks before his birthday. They look huge in his mouth, and are very cute.

- He does not walk yet, and I am no hurry for him to start. He does stand and cruise along the furniture, though.

- He has several words. The cutest of these is when Dad walks in, and he says "Hi!" in his chipper little voice.

- Of all our kids, he has been the worst sleeper. Last month, he would wake up every night around 3 a.m., and want to play with me for an hour or two (giggling, climbing over me, slapping me - you get the picture). Finally, I made a roller bottle of the "Serenity" essential oil blend in some carrier oil. When he wakes up to nurse at 3 a.m., I immediately roll it on the soles of his feet, and he goes back to sleep after nursing without a fuss. Last night, the roller bottle was lost, and he was up "playing" with me for half an hour. Five minutes after I found the oil and applied it, he was happily asleep. Definitely a sanity saver!!

- Nap times are a similar story - he'll sleep in bed for half an hour, then be up and crabby. Or he'll sleep in the swing for about 3 hours, and wake up happy. So I usually put him in the swing to nap, and we all live happily ever after.

Our gift to him was a sand and water table, which was a huge hit not just with him, but all of the younger kids as well. I didn't anticipate the mess it would make on our front porch, though. Going forward, I think it will be converted into a water only table.

It was important to me to visit the memorial garden where we buried Boaz' twin brother, Jachin, who passed away midway through the pregnancy but was born on the same day. Boaz thought the vase for holding the flowers was a great toy, and treated it just like his water table. It was all I could do to keep him from ripping the flowers out again and again.

For cake, I whipped up a jelly roll right before church, which we filled and ate after we got home from the service. It was a bit late by then, but Boaz certainly enjoyed it.

Boaz is such a sweet blessing in our lives, and we are beyond thankful for him. I am excited to see the plans God has in store for him.

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

The kids and I finally finished putting the garden in - yay! We are only growing a handful of fail-proof, heat resistant crops - cukes and zukes, some basil, a couple of melons. Hopefully, we will be able to harvest a crop. Some years, we do. Other years - not at all. This spring/summer has been the mildest, coolest, and rainiest we have ever seen here, and many others have told me the same. I am hopeful God is changing the climate in our neck of the woods on a macro level, and this desert will soon be lush and green all the time! :)

I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. (Isa 41:18)

In other news, our cat Ninja is in labor today. The kids are pretty stoked, and did not want to go to P.E. this morning lest they miss the birth. Of course, I still sent all of them, because I figure it will take a while yet and I enjoy those 2+ hours of complete silence each week while their Dad takes them. I did let Becky stay home because she is our "cat lady," and was ***so*** wanting to be here in case the kittens came this morning.

Lately, now that he is getting to be so big, even Boaz has been going to P.E. Can you believe he is going to be 1 tomorrow?? How did that happen? If the weather holds, we will be going peach picking for his birthday. If it's hot again, maybe we'll do the lake instead.

Well, all the kids are growing up. One of the things we want to do in the next few months while we discontinue most school work is to hone their cooking skills. The older boys are comfortable making a number of dishes, but the girls are just starting. It would be nice to completely pass off the cooking to a team of able and willing budding chefs!

I found this book at my local bookstore, Changing Hands, and cannot recommend it enough. Not as crazy zany as some kids cookbooks (which I find distracting and confusing), but with clear, illustrated, step-by-step directions that help the visual learners or those that are still learning to read.

Even just by reading through them, I can tell the recipes are delicious. It's like Pioneer Woman for kids! BTW, if you have connections to her (as I doubt she read here...) - can you put in a request to her to make a kids' cookbook? Please??

Just in the last 24 hours, the oldest five kids have marked up the book with recipes they want to try, and Miriam made dessert last night, and Isaac breakfast this morning.

When I went online to leave a positive review on Amazon, it said the book has not yet been released, so I'm not sure why my bookstore already had it on the shelf. However, it's coming out in just a couple of days everywhere else. If you need a gift, or have been looking for a kids' cookbook, you will love this one!

About Me

I am the wife of a hard-working pastor and a stay-at-home Mom to our nine wonderful kids - Solomon (15), Isaac (14), John (12), Miriam (10), Rebecca (8), Anna (6), Stephen (5), Boaz (3), and Chloe (1).
We spend our days learning, working, playing, and putting out all kinds of fires as we serve our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Read all about the good, the bad, and the ugly days right here on my blog.

Google Website Translator

Solomon (15)

Typical firstborn. Very intelligent and logical. Loves to talk. Likes for things to be "right" and organized. Very honest and fair. Exceptional musical talent. Great helper with younger siblings. Very kind and loving.

Isaac (14)

Loves anything to do with being outdoors: riding bikes, hiking, camping, caring for animals, exploring, horseback riding, etc. Very reliable and polite. My "Mr. Fix-It" man. Never ever complains. Tough, but has a very tender heart. Devours books at incredible speed.

John (12)

Our quirky child. Funny and artistic. Precocious and empathetic. Loving older brother to his younger siblings. A bit of daredevil.

Miriam (10)

Beautiful and sweet. Kind and mothering with her younger siblings. Loves being by my side 24/7. My big helper. Has a great sense of style.

Rebecca (8)

Full of energy. Smart and mischievous in a very loveable way. Very tidy. Loves to help with anything she can. Dotes on her younger siblings. Daddy's girl, bookworm.

Anna (6)

Sweet girly girl. Loves pretend playing with her siblings and her dollies. Wants to be a big girl like her sisters. Tenderhearted.

Stephen (5)

Full of energy. Loves to climb onto anything. Wild and rambunctious. All boy, and always happy. A smaller version of his dad, with whom he shares his name and birthday.

Boaz (3)

This little guy is an extra special blessing after a complicated twin pregnancy. Mellow and easy-going. Chatterbox. Smart cookie with a heart of gold.

Chloe (1)

Currently the youngest member of our family. A precious little doll that brightens all of our lives. Smiles, coos, gives kisses, and brings joy every day.